Dunlap may have a job at WVU after all

MORGANTOWN -- Steve Dunlap is no longer a member of West Virginia's football coaching staff, but he's not left the university yet. And there's at least a chance that he won't.

Dunlap was at West Virginia's basketball game against Kansas Monday night and said he and the school have talked about him filling another job at the university.

"We're working on it,'' he said.

What that might be isn't clear. Dunlap is under contract until the end of June and is still collecting a salary and performing some administrative duties within the football program. A potential football recruit this week tweeted a picture of himself, coach Dana Holgorsen and Dunlap together in the football offices.

That's in stark contrast to the other coach that Holgorsen fired this season. The university paid what it owed to former cornerbacks coach Daron Roberts and cut him loose.

The difference between the two, of course, is that Roberts had no prior connections to West Virginia or the university. Dunlap has spent the majority of his life in the state and most of his professional life coaching at WVU.

When Holgorsen let Dunlap go earlier this month, sources indicated that he might not be finished at the university. He has apparently not pursued other coaching jobs.

Dunlap was let go by after serving last season as special teams coordinator, outside linebackers coach and assistant head coach. He coached the safeties the season before that.

Dunlap was the only member of WVU's defensive staff who remained at the school following the 2011 season when Jeff Casteel, Bill Kirelawich and David Lockwood all went to Arizona.

Dunlap said Monday night that he didn't know what sort of position he might fill at the school and deputy athletic director Mike Parsons said that was a major sticking point right now.

"It's not like we can just invent a job,'' Parsons said. "But we have been discussing the possibilities.''

Dunlap is a Hurricane native and WVU graduate who still ranks among the school's all-time leader in tackles from his days as a linebacker in the mid-1970s. He was an assistant coach under Don Nehlen for two decades and served as the defensive coordinator for much of the 1990s. He was not retained by Rich Rodriguez when he arrived in 2001, but returned in 2008 after Rodriguez left.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickman1@aol.com or follow him at Twitter.com/dphickman1